…Labour seeks naira crude sales to local refineries, bigger fuel reserves
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal Government to urgently approve a reasonable wage award for workers as petrol prices climb to about N1,430 per litre in major cities.
The labour centre also demanded that the government sell sufficient crude oil in naira to local refineries and expand the country’s petroleum storage capacity to cushion Nigerians from the impact of the latest fuel price surge.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, made the demands in a statement issued on Wednesday, warning that the rising cost of petrol would further deepen economic hardship and erode workers’ purchasing power.
Ajaero said the impact of the increase was already being felt through higher transportation costs, which he noted could trigger further increases in the prices of food, school fees, rent, tariffs and other essential goods and services.
“We are seriously concerned by the rising cost of the pump price of petrol across the country. In mega urban cities where petrol is readily available, the cost ranges from N1,430. In less accessible areas, the cost is much worse,” he said.
The NLC president said the latest increase had come despite efforts by the government to pressure marketers to reduce pump prices in line with international crude oil prices.
He attributed the latest wave of higher costs partly to the resurgence of conflict in the Gulf, but argued that Nigeria, as an oil-producing country with domestic refining capacity, should have measures capable of shielding citizens from external energy-market shocks.
“As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf, and indeed, other gales,” Ajaero said.
To create such a buffer, the NLC urged the Federal Government to immediately introduce wage awards for workers, provide adequate crude oil in naira to domestic refineries and expand national petroleum storage capacity.
According to the labour body, the measures could help create jobs, generate economic value and strengthen energy security.
The NLC also argued that government intervention, including subsidies or other forms of palliative support, should not be ruled out during an emergency.
“There is nothing wrong with government subsidising the needs of citizens, especially in emergency situations like this,” Ajaero said.
He further claimed that the Federal Government was benefiting from higher international crude prices, which he put at between $35 and $40 per barrel above the budget benchmark, describing the additional revenue as a windfall that could be deployed to cushion citizens.
The NLC also questioned the continued importation of crude by some domestic refineries, arguing that the practice undermined the objective of building local refining capacity.
“On a long-term basis, we are equally concerned that local refineries are importing crude. This is unreasonable and unacceptable and defeats the logic and purpose of local capacity,” Ajaero said.
He urged the government to act swiftly to protect workers and households from the wider effects of rising fuel prices.
The NLC’s demands come amid reports of petrol selling at about N1,430 per litre in major cities, with prices reportedly higher in less accessible areas.
